The present disclosure relates to adjusting the printing conditions of a document during document creation to minimize the make-ready stage.
Publications, such as newspapers and magazines, are printed in large volumes by high-volume printing methods such as offset printing. Image objects, including text and images, are printed on both sides of each paper of such publications. Commercially available software, such as Adobe® InDesign® CS2 and Adobe® Illustrator® CS2, can be used to create the image objects to be printed. In offset printing, the image objects to be printed are often transferred to films or plates. Computer to plate (CTP) imaging technology is a method where an electronic document is transferred directly to a printing plate. Inked regions of the plates including the image objects are selectively transferred to the paper via intermediary rubber blankets. Primary colors, namely, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K), along with spot colored inks are applied in predetermined concentrations to the paper to create image objects corresponding to the image objects in the electronic document. Inkjet based printing methods are also available to print high-volume publications.
Prior to printing large volumes of publications, printing conditions including paper thickness, absorbent quality of the paper, paper transparency, ink quality (e.g., seeping characteristics), and concentration of primary colors (C, M, Y, K) to obtain intended color, are monitored and modified manually at the make-ready stage to prevent undesirable phenomena such as strike-through and show-through. Strike-through results when the ink printed on the front side of the paper penetrates the paper and is visible on the back side. Show-through results when the printing on the back side of the paper can be seen through the front side. Strike-through and show-through are visible in areas of excessive ink density on a back side of a page relative to the front side of the page. Strike-through and show-through are also caused by paper of high absorbency used in printing newspapers and thin, glossy papers used in printing magazines.
One method to detect strike-through and show-through is printing the document on paper and visually detecting strike-through and show-through in a hard copy of the print. The printing conditions can then be modified and monitored to correct strike-through and show-through. Such modifying and monitoring prior to high-volume printing consumes resources including time, paper, and ink. The stage between commencement of printing and arriving at the final version of the publication is known as the make-ready stage. Several printing presses employ operators to alter the printing conditions during the initial printing stages. The operators rely on their extensive experience to make requisite adjustments to the printing conditions to prevent strike-through and show-through and minimize the make-ready stage.